The 2001 Derby winner-turned super-sire Galileo has to date fathered three winners of racing’s most-famous prize and he has another live contender for the 2016 race in Midterm (3c Galileo-Midday, by Oasis Dream).

The Juddmonte blue-blood was saddled by Sir Michael Stoute to win Sandown’s G3 Classic Trial on Friday in good style with Ryan Moore in the saddle.

The son of six-time G1 winner Midday won a Newbury maiden on his only start last season and is now 6/1 second-favourite for the Derby with Galileo colt US Army Ranger (3c Galileo-Moonstone, by Dalakhani) heading the market.

“He’s such a beautiful athlete with a great pedigree so he’s got so many credentials.” said Stoute. “He’s a very neat horse and a very good mover. He’s certainly bred to do the job.

“There’s a few more trials to be seen and there’s a lot of horses we haven’t seen yet, so it’s early days, but this horse has done absolutely nothing wrong. We’ll go for one of the trials now, either Chester or York.”

Moore added: “I thought it was a really professional performance. We went a good, even pace and he travelled nicely. I always felt like he was in control. He was a little bit green coming up the hill, but every time I asked him he kept responding.”